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Cup winner Just A Dash dead at 35

Chris Roots

MELBOURNE CUP winner Just A Dash has been buried, standing up and facing the sun after being put down at Willow Dene Stud near Wollongong on Friday.

Lloyd Williams' first Cup winner, Just A Dash was trained by Tommy Smith to win the race that stops the nation in 1981.

''He was a great old horse and was very dear to the Williams family,'' Williams said.

''He went on to be a police horse after winning the Cup but that didn't work out and a lady offered to look after him in Wollongong.

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''He has had a great life and it is sad to hear that [he has died] a couple of days out from the Melbourne Cup.''

Williams has added two Melbourne Cups since Just A Dash, with What A Nuisance and Efficient. He will have Green Moon and Mourayan running on Tuesday.

Just A Dash, who was foaled near Canberra, was the oldest living Melbourne Cup winner at 35 years old.

A sad Willow Dene master, Stephen Hill, said putting the old horse down had been the merciful thing to do. ''He had been having problems with a hind leg for a while and had trouble getting back up,'' Hill said. ''He went down on Friday morning and we had to flip him over to get him back up. We decided it was better to put him down now than to find him in the paddock suffering.''

Just A Dash had been looking after yearling colts for the 25 years he spent at Willow Dene Stud. ''He really loved that role and I think it kept him young,'' Hill said.

''To get to 35 years old for any horse is remarkable. We buried him his morning standing up and he will have his own headstone to mark his time spent here.''